Pa. winery starts in small garage but recent additions have put space issues in the rear-view mirror
Updated May 31, 2021;
Posted May 04, 2021
Bella Terra Vineyards is located at 121 Sunny Lane in Hunter, Westmoreland County. It opens daily at 11 a.m.
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Bella Terra Vineyards was founded in 2015 by Jay and Joanna Bell with the idea of creating a space for outdoor weddings and events and supplying those events with homemade wine.
But once the tasting room opened and things got rolling, they realized that the potential was grander than originally thought. By 2019, Jay and Joanna had left their “day” jobs to focus on the winery full time and added several employees, including general manager Heather Gibas and winemaker Bill King. That same year they opened a tasting room and event space, which offered wine, local craft beers and Pennsylvania-made spirits.
Yesenia Villalobos
Yesenia Villalobos is her mother s caregiver. Her mom was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer s disease. She and her husband, along with their then-1-year-old daughter, moved to Phoenix more than three years ago.
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed many deep societal fissures. A big one is the caregiving burden, which, more often than not, falls on the shoulders of women. We saw this with working mothers who left the labor force to care for their children. The same challenges face adult daughters who are caring for aging parents.
But these women were making professional and personal sacrifices long before the pandemic.